South Park is this society, just way funnier...

Hello everybody,

Last night I was watching some TV, switching between the Celtics vs. Kings game and the Miami vs. Brooklyn game, when all of a sudden… I got really bored of watching basketball. I don’t particularly like the Nets, I despise the Heat, and the Celtics were blowing out the lowly Sacramento Kings and without Rondo the Celtics just aren’t that fun to watch anymore. My third option whenever I’m watching TV is always Comedy Central, so I turned to that to see what was on, and low-and-behold South Park is on. South Park just happens to be one of my favorite shows of all time, so of course I switched to that.

The thing that I really love about South Park is, for one it’s hilarious, outrageous, offensive, and I totally dig it. What some people don’t realize is that a lot of the time the episodes are just satirical, humorous portrayals of our culture. Some will think that South Park is just idiotic, trash mouth, adolescent humor, which actually it kind of is, but the show itself has some intelligent humor to go along with it. They don’t just make random jokes about things that the majority of people won’t understand, like Family Guy often does, rather they (the writers of the show) pick a topic out that’s relevant or controversial in popular culture and put a hilarious twist on it.

Back to the episode last night that I watched… I was excited because I hadn’t seen this episode before, since I’ve seen the majority of the episodes, I rarely see ones on TV that I haven’t seen. So I was watching it and it was hilarious, just South Park at it’s finest.

Cartman gets called fat by Kyle, so he comes to Kyle saying that he’s going to make a change about his weight and stop being such a slob and all this stuff. What does Cartman do? He gets an electrical scooter to ride around, because his insurance will pay for it. He tries to go into Kyle’s bathroom to take a dump, but his scooter doesn’t fit through the door so he threatens to sue him. The episode goes on and eventually it gets too Honey Boo Boo, whom I loathe entirely (if you get that reference, pat on the back). Basically Kyle is upset because we’re watching fat white trash on TV for our enjoyment and he wants to do something about it…

I feel like I’m kind of ruining the episode so I’m going to stop and get back to why I wanted to blog about this. While South Park may seem like mindless, nonsensical humor that just appeals to teenage boys, or stoners or any unintelligent person for that matter, it is actually quite the opposite.  For example, in this episode the topic the writers chose to base their episode around was about the growing issue of obesity in America. So what they do is just apply the issues and controversies surrounding that topic in our society, think of ways to make it funny, and of course a bit controversial, and apply it in an episode.

So, Cartman gets a scooter for free from his insurance, he gets to cut lines at amusement parks, park in the handicap spots, board airplanes first, and it’s all because he’s obese. In terms of the Honey Boo Boo references, while the writers are obviously making fun of the Honey Boo Boo show itself, it’s more like they’re making fun of US… the people, the consumers, the ones that sit and watch this fat, spoiled, white trash, wanna-be beauty queen little girl for our personal amusement.

People actually make money off of Honey Boo Boo, which is the scary thing, and they point this out in the episode as well. Kyle tries to make a documentary to raise awareness about obesity by following Cartman around with a camera and Token said he would edit the footage Kyle got, make it into a good documentary, and finance it to get on the air. Instead, Token makes the footage of Cartman funny, rather than serious, because he knows he can make money off of it. He knows it’s wrong to exploit Cartman like this, but he does it anyways. Why can he make money off the footage of Cartman? Because the bar has been lowered so far to the point where our society actually watches and enjoys shows like Honey Boo Boo.

It’s really a sad portrayal of our society…We’re the fattest country in the world, our education system is failing, we’re in a 16 trillion dollar debt which is always growing, and the ratings of TV shows like Honey Boo Boo are soaring. Honestly, I worry about what our world will be like in the future. We are really not going in a positive direction in any way right now. In terms of the actual planet Earth that we call home, we fucked this place up excuse my language. The planet is way beyond over capacitated, there is in fact a weight limit for earth and recently America just put it way over that limit. That was a joke, but seriously the earth is way too overpopulated and we don’t have the resources to support all these people anymore. The ice in the North Pole is melting, which means Santa has to find a new address along with all the elves, like c’mon man where are they going to make all the toys for Christmas now? Seriously though, there’s a reason that it’s been a bit warmer lately, with not as much snow fall, and more severe storms… Its called global warming people, why is that all of a sudden a non-issue with the people and our politicians?

See this is what happens when I start talking about the problems of our society, one thing leads to another and somehow I go from Honey Boo Boo to global warming… So right now in the interest of time because I have to do an essay that’s about a week overdue, I will make a list of all the problems with our world in order of significance…

1.     Illuminati

2.     Global Warming

3.     Cancer

4.     Overpopulation

5.     Aids

6.     Honey Boo Boo

7.     World hunger

8.     Poverty

9.     Obesity

10.  McDonalds

11.  Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian

12.  Murder

13.  Gang Violence

14.  Justin Beiber

15.  Kids with iPhones

16.  Racism

17.  Roger Goodell

18.  David Stern

19.  When a coach gets fired for discipline… (Happens everywhere nowadays, not just NA)

20.  New NFL rule changes

21.  Mass Mental Softness

22.  Mass Ignorance (is bliss, for everyone…)

23.  Mass Stupidity

24.  Mass Laziness

25.  Greed among the few, rich and powerful (see #1)

26.  The US government

27.  The debt our country is in

28.  George Bush (see 24, 26)

29.  Black Friday

30.  Biggest Loser (watching people on TV lose weight… America)

31.  Alex Rodriguez

32.  The New York Yankees

33.  The New York Jets/ Giants

34.  The Vancouver Canucks

35.  The Montreal Canadiens

36.  The fact that the Super Bowl is in New York next year

37.  New York

Ok, that’s all I got for today. That was good to get off my chest though; people need to realize that New York is a huge problem for the world, not just Boston. But seriously, all the things I named above are just things that I just hate… Now go watch South Park and notice the humor as it relates to our culture.

God Bless America.

Thanks for reading

-RB

North Andover vs Central Catholic Game Reaction

The final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read: North Andover 58 Guests 52. The North Andover faithful stormed the court... it was absolute pandemonium and jubilation as the Knights had just knocked off the number 1 team in the state.

Let's go back way before the final buzzer sounded in this game to see where the big moments were...
Central controlled the game for most of the first half, especially on the boards, where it seemed as if they were getting every rebound and converting easy second chance looks close to the basket. The Knights were simply being physically dominated, as Central had a size advantage at almost every position, especially the guards and wings. Central lead at half time, 28-19 and heading into the 3rd quarter they started off hot, but North Andover kept battling and hanging tough with them

The real turning point of this game was a 60 foot prayer at the end of the third quarter that Derek Collins drained which cut Central's lead to 9 points, gave the fans something to cheer about, and got some momentum back with the Knights.

From that point on, the North Andover student section got louder and louder with each possession. As one of the people in the front of the crowd and a leader of chants, I was proud of the passion that our fans showed throughout the game. Although there's still some things we need to work on as a unit for next game, we were definitely a factor in the win and showed that we are MVC ready. So good job people...

Back to the action on the court... Isaiah Nelson was absolutely phenomenal this game. He ended the game with 20 points and hit big shot after big shot when the team needed him too. The biggest shot all night was a 30 foot, bank shot, 3 pointer with 39.1 seconds left in the game, with the shot clock about to expire, and the game tied up at 52. Talk about clutch, this gave the Knights the lead and after Central Catholic missed a shot on the other end and fouled Derek Collins, it was all over and the celebration started in the Crozier Gymnasium.

In the fan section, we successfully executed the classic "I Believe That We Will Win" and also the "Winning team, losing team" chant before the end of regulation. That's how you know we're MVC ready...

In case you didn't know, I was at Tilton School for 3 years before I ended up at North Andover High School. When I say to people that I went to Tilton, they usually say something along the lines of  "Oh dude that's sick did you know Nerlens/Wayne/Georges?? The basketball team is nasty right?" Well yes, the basketball team has been pretty damn good the past couple years. I've seen a lot of Tilton games over the past couple years, against some amazing competition like Brewster Academy, St Marks, New Hampton, to name a few. In the Tilton vs Brewster game last year at Brewster, which is one of my favorite games ever, literally everyone on the court was going to play division 1 basketball, there were about 2,000 or more people at that game, and it was one of the craziest games I've ever seen in person. Of course, North Andover does not have the talent that Tilton had, and Central Catholic wasn't as talented as Brewster was... That being said, tonight's game at the Crozier Gym was the best game I've ever been too. This game had it all, crazy fans, (only one side showed up, Central stayed at home because they were scared) good play on the court, the underdog storyline, there was times in the game where they looked like they were going to blow us out, but we kept fighting back. When Derek hit that 60 footer at the end of the third, when Isaiah hit that crazy bank three pointer with 39 seconds left, and when the upset was complete and I stormed the court along with the other members of the "Black Hole", the joy and excitement I got from that I've never felt before. I've seen big games before with some crazy talent on the floor, but it's not the same. The Knights showed heart, determination, commitment, passion, grit, toughness, all these things they needed to beat a talented Central Catholic team who is currently the number 1 team in Mass. They never gave up, believed in each other, and out hustled the opposition. That, to me is what you call great basketball. You don't need dunks and crazy blocks and all that, although it's not bad to watch. Basketball is basketball, sport is sport, and it all comes down to heart and who wants it more. Today, the Knights wanted it more then they did. Today, I can call myself a Knight and be proud of it.


Go Knights
-RB 


Watch these videos and get a sense of what I'm talking about above about Tilton basketball, I was at  these games and I'm saying I thought this game was better...

 

 

Support Coach Rafferty

I only had the pleasure of playing for Coach Raff for one season unfortunately. However what I learned in that one season will stay with me for as long as I live. Raff was one of the best coaches I have ever had in any sport. He did what all coaches are supposed to do, but most fail to do, and that is helping to teach their players life lessons and help make each person better as individuals through playing a sport. That really is coach Rafferty's specialty, and it helped our entire team get through some tough adversity we went through this season. Anybody that has had him as a coach can vouch for his character and leadership. I think it's a huge mistake for this program to get rid of Coach Raff. There aren't a lot of people out there who can make a bunch of adolescent high school teenagers into a group of men, and prepare them for not only Friday nights, but for the real world that lies beyond high school and beyond football. I have nothing but good things to say about the man.
One thing I've noticed in less than a year at North Andover High School is that we take a lot of pride in our sports teams. Football is probably the biggest sport out of all of them (no offense, it's just a fact football is the most popular sport in the country) and I like to think the community takes a lot of pride in this team. While we might not have had the best record this year compared to years past, the community of North Andover can still be proud of this team because we never quit even with all the things that didn't go our way. We lost a lot of close games that could've broken this team apart, but we stuck together. We lost our captain and probably our best player with an injury early in the season, but we didn't let that break us apart. This really defines who we were as a team, a tough, scrappy group of guys who just would not quit. And it all starts with a coach when you're playing a team sport, especially football, and Coach Raff was the biggest reason this team stayed together all year. His toughness and mental fortitude really rubbed off on all of the players and helped us get through tough situations. Football is more than a game, it's a test of mental toughness and strength. Football is a lot like life in general, not everything is going to go your way, but it's how you battle back that defines your character. Coach Rafferty instilled this in all his players, and made us all better people because of that.
I hope the administration realizes that his impact went far beyond the field for all of his players he has coached.
I don't know if this decision is the administration at the school trying to make a change with the football schemes or if it's just a personal vendetta someone has with Raff. I can't really justify the move that's been made because I just don't understand it. Raff is truly class act, a smart coach, tough disciplinarian, and above all, he instilled his fundamental core values in young men that help them in every aspect of life. That is something that will be very difficult to replace.

Reasons to be excited

Hello everybody,
Today I woke up, it's Saturday morning and the sun is shining, and although it's cold as hell still I'm in a good mood. Lately all my posts have been pretty negative, and I don't want to be portrayed as a pessimistic guy. I've been complaining about the Patriots and Celtics, and rightfully so. When I went on Twitter this morning, I saw Dougie Hamilton was trending. For some reason, that made me just feel so much better about everything, I don't know why. But then it made me realize that we have a lot to be excited about going into the future, as sports fans and in our own lives.

What do we have to be excited about in the sports world? Well, a lot of things really. I'll be the first to admit I was a bit negative about the Boston teams following the recent Pats loss and while the Celtics continue to fall, all hope is not lost for either of these teams title hopes. Boston is one of the best, probably the best sports city in the world in my opinion. And in the words of Bane from Dark Knight, "This great city will prevail" (Great movie by the way, kind of ironic in this context though). What I mean by that is although a couple of our teams appear to be on the decline , there's a ton to be optimistic about going forward. I'll go through team by team as to who I think the young players who will have a big impact going forward are for each team.

Bruins-







Tyler Seguin- Seguin is just simply a stud. He has superstar talent to go with superstar swag off the ice. Every time he's on the ice he has the potential to do something special, which makes him a nightmare for opposing coaches and a dream for Bruins fans.
Dougie Hamilton- I've only seen this dude play for 3 games and you can already tell he's going to be something special for this team. He has a certain confidence and fearlessness that I love to see out of young players. For a defender he has a skill set that is fun to watch, he can make people look stupid and put a solid shot on net. In the Rangers game he could've had a couple goals against Lundquist, one of the best goalies in the league. I can not wait to see what this kid can do for us going forward.
Brad Marchand- I absolutely love Marchand, both his style of play and his personality make him a spark plug for this Bruins team. He's a smaller player that's not afraid to stick his nose in there and get physical. Marchand has proven that he can handle pressure in the big stages and can be relied on offensively to score some goals.
Tuukka Rask- Tuukka appears as if he's just getting started for this team. In one of my other posts I mentioned how Rask would be the key for the Bruins going forward. Through 3 games, he's made me a believer. Tuukka is looking like a more than suitable replacement for Thomas, as he's younger, quicker, faster than his 38 year old predecessor. Watch out, NHL, Tuukka is for real.
(Note- I did not watch the Bruins game yesterday, shame on me)

Celtics-




Rajon Rondo- He should just be called Mr Triple Double now, because Rondo is just racking them up this year. Rondo is in the prime of his career, and trying to carry a struggling Celtics team. Simply stated Rondo has been everything for the Celtics this year. Going forward we need to build around him, get a superstar or two (Dwight Howard... Lebron? Who knows?) to play along side him.





Avery Bradley- Avery is a terrific defender, can lock down anyone in the league, and is a much improved offensive player. He will be key for the Celtics this year along with Rondo in the back court if the Celtics want to have any success this year.




Jared Sullinger- I loved this pick by the Celtics when they drafted him. Coming out of college there was questions about his back and his size, but he's proved a lot of people wrong. Sullinger has arguably been the key to the Celtics this year, as he's been one of the only bright spots in an otherwise dreary season. On the boards he is truly a beast which is exactly what this team needs, with KG in his old age not being able to do the same things he used to do. Sullinger will be a huge part of this team for a long time.
(Note: All of these guys' names are on the trade rumor mill... Nothing for sure yet, just something to note)

Patriots-














Aaron Hernandez- Hernandez is only 23 years old and already a key part of the Patriots offense. He has the speed of a receiver, can run the ball, catch the ball, make some nice blocks, although that's not his strength. Running the two tight end offense with him and Gronk is a nightmare for defenses. Look for him to continue to produce if he can stay healthy.




Rob Gronkowski- Gronk is already probably the best tight end in the NFL. At 6' 7", with speed, great hands, big wingspan, and overall great athletic ability, he is a nightmare for defenses. When he's healthy, he's almost unstoppable, especially in the red zone and 3rd and short situations. An underrated aspect of his game is his run blocking ability where he excels in dominating defenders off the ball. The great thing is that we have Gronk and Hernandez locked up for a couple more years, so we can continue to develop them into great players like I know they can be. If Gronk can stay on the field, something that he has struggled with, the Pats will be that much deadlier on offense for years.


Stevan Ridley- Ridley became one of my favorite players this year as he had a breakout second season for the Pats. The running game for the Patriots was in issue in years past, but Ridley along with Shane Vereen, Danny Woodhead and Brandon Bolden--for the first couple games this year-- helped solidify the ground game as a viable and dangerous weapon for this offense. What I like about Ridley is his ability to make people miss more than previous Patriots running backs, while also running with power. I really think he could develop into a superstar in the future.
 In the AFC Championship game, he got hit on a helmet to helmet hit by Bernard Pollard where he just went limp and fumbled the ball, which sealed the deal for the Ravens in that game. Watching that hit is just excruciating. It's almost like any serious knee injury that you see where their knee bends and you just can't look because it's so bad (ex. Willis Mcgahee, Marcus Lattimore, to name a couple.) When I first saw it, I thought he was paralyzed, like there's no way he's alive or able to walk after that. He walked off the field, which is good, but that doesn't mean it's not serious. I think there's a chance that this could effect Ridley in some way in the future, I don't know for sure how serious it was but it sure as hell didn't look good. Concussions are serious, I've had a couple of them and I've seen my share of people getting concussions in football, but never ever have I seen someone go completely numb like that. I hope he doesn't have after effects from this, I pray for him, but I would not be surprised if he wasn't the same player after this massive hit.

Redsox-
... Crickets
They'll be alright, I'm just not a huge fan of the Sox right now, especially the owners... My allegiance to the Sox is obvious, but it's being tested the way this franchise is being run.




Not all is bad in the sports world, and not all is bad in the real world either despite what you hear on the news or on Twitter or Facebook where people love to complain about their problems. Through all the ups and downs that teams go through, in the end they will survive. We as individuals go through the same ups and downs in our own lives and no matter what, the sun always comes up tomorrow, and there will be better days ahead. So if your feeling down, stay strong, keep your chin up, and soldier on.


Thanks for reading

-RB

 

Still Stuck on the Patriots loss.

Hello everybody,

Classic Brady...

I'm sitting here on Friday, five days have elapsed since the Patriots lost at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. I wrote some reaction a day after the game, mostly about Brady, I was pretty heated at the time. The other day on NFL Network they aired the replay of the game, which was pretty weird because I was going to try and find the whole game on the internet that same day because I wanted to watch it for a second time. On Sunday when I was watching it, I was with a bunch of friends, kind of distracted and I missed a couple minutes of the 3rd quarter. I hate missing things, especially in a playoff football game, so I had to go back and watch it again.

While I was watching, I took some notes on what really stuck out to me during the game. What can I say, I'm kind of a football geek. Here's what I came up with after watching the game for the second time...

• Starting off the game in the first half the Pats offense was moving the ball pretty well...
• However, their  no huddle offense was stifled all day. In total, they ran 10 plays for 38 yards in the up tempo offense. If you remember from my prediction I posted before the game, I said that there no huddle offense and running game would be the difference in this game and that the Ravens could not keep with all the weapons the Patriots have on offense. Man I was so wrong...
• The running game was not even a factor for the Pats in this game. The Ravens would sometimes bring in an extra defensive back and dare the Patriots to run, but they continued to try and air it out with Brady which just is not going to work against this defense.
• Tom Brady was inconsistent all game. I don't know if his arm was tired or something, but he repeatedly hurt the offense with his inaccuracy. Numerous times throughout the game he missed his target when receivers were open but he would throw the ball with very unbrady-like accuracy and force his receivers to make tough catches, or the ball wouldn't even be catchable. Not all the blame goes to Brady and the offense, even though they clearly needed to make some plays and get more than 13 points. Some of the blame has to go on the defense...
• In the 1st quarter when Talib came out with a hamstring injury that was a huge blow to the defense and it really showed how much impact Talib has on a game. As soon as he went to the sidelines, the Patriots defense looked like the suspect defenses of the past couple years that we became so fed up with. What Talib brings to the defense is his ability to man up and shut down the oppositions best receiver. When he was on the field, it was clear the entire defensive unit was more confident and aggressive. In his absence, they had to switch up their whole defensive game plan to a more passive, read and react style like the one played before he came this year and in years past. I honestly think this was the biggest downfall for the Patriots in the game. Their defense was clearly not the nearly the same after he left the game.
• Oh yeah, we were also missing Gronk, who is a huge part of our offensive game plan and a huge weapon for Brady, literally. The proof is in the redzone, we got there 4 times and could only score one touchdown. Gronk is a redzone nightmare for defenses, without him we could not match the Ravens physicality and it showed. Gronk would've been a huge help for Brady because clearly Brady needs a 6' 7" target to throw to.
• One thing that really pissed me off is the clock management at the end of the 1st half. First off, Hernandez didn't go out of bounds with 20 seconds left, which every person who has ever played football knows you need to do, and forced them to burn a timeout. After they run a play, Brady tries hustling to the line to call a play rather than call a timeout with 14 seconds, or even spike the ball. This was actually huge in this game. If we could've gotten into the endzone it would've been 20-7 going into the half, completely changing the game. Stupid shit like that you just can't have in the playoffs.
• I have to give the Ravens credit where credit is due, the second half they completely dominated every phase of the game. It started with them running an up tempo offense in the first drive coming out of the half that completely screwed up the Pats d. They ran that to perfection and it ended with a touchdown. Also, Joe Flacco had one of the best games I've seen out of a quarterback in a while. Every throw he made was...breath taking. It was unreal, I completely underestimated Joe Flacco but he proved me and a lot of other people wrong. Even when he missed, the throws were still pretty damn good. He looked calm, confident, poised in the pocket, and continued to make big throw after big throw even while under pressure.
• Back to the Patriots now. The missed opportunities, mistakes that they made, were simply too much to overcome. Things they did in the regular season like converting on third down and scoring touchdowns in the red zone just didn't happen at all. The play that sticks out is obviously the play on 3rd and 8 where Welker dropped a pass that would've given the Pats a first down and maybe they would've scored a touchdown. Or how about in the 3rd quarter when Nate Solder got called for holding on a would-be first down that ended up being 3rd and 12, they couldn't convert, punted the ball to the Ravens in good field position and they score a touchdown on that drive...

Missed opportunities, it's been the story of this team for the past 8 or so seasons, and it's starting to get  in the heads of us loyal Patriots fans. How much longer is Brady and Belicheck's title window open? I don't know, I don't think any one really knows except the men themselves. We probably have a couple more years with a shot, but the window is definitely closing fast. The Patriots must act this offseason, open up the wallets, build for a Super Bowl team that can win NOW, but will also be good for years to come. Here is I believe what the Patriots needs are this offseason:

1. Resign Aqib Talib, Julian Edelman and Danny Woodhead. Aqib makes defense 100 times better. Julian Edelman can replace Welker as the slot receiver, if he can stay healthy. Danny Woodhead is just... Woody, he makes plays when we need him to. He can catch, run and block out of the back field, we definitely should get him back next year.
2. Let Welker go... Father time will catch up to him, he's going to want big money and a long term deal not worth it at his age. Although he's been extremely productive while he's been here, his drops are starting to become a problem. Two huge ones are obviously the most recent Super Bowl against the Giants and the one last week against the Ravens. This year, he lead the league in dropped passes with 15 drops.  I hate to see him leave, but the time has come to move on
3. Get a physical, hard hitting enforcer safety that will put fear into the opponents who come across the middle of the defense, which was very vulnerable this year. Patrick Chung sucks, let's face it, and he's a free agent who will ask for too much, let him go. Gregory was ok this year, but on coverage was very weak and easily exploited by opposing quarterbacks. Let him go and free up some cap space so hopefully we can go out and get a free agent safety (Ed Reed anyone?).   
4. Acquire a big, fast, physical receiver who has deep play capability to stretch the defense and can make tough catches for Brady. Lloyd is not Randy Moss, he isn't the type to stretch the defense down field, he is a much better intermediate, sideline receiver. Get a Randy Moss type player and give Brady yet another weapon.

Listen to me Belicheck I'm a freaking genius *Dr Evil voice*. The Pats need some help this offseason to get over the hump and win another championship. There's some tough decisions that will have to be made and I just pray that they get some quality players and aren't so damn cheap like they've been in the past. Lord knows we need another duckboat parade in Boston.

Thanks for reading,

RB

Celtics Talk. Midseason thoughts.

 

Hello everyone,

Last night, I sat in my TV room and watched the Celtics game, as many people probably did too. Just to catch you up if you don’t really follow basketball… The Celtics are on a 3 game losing streak, coming off a loss to a pretty awful Detroit Pistons team, after the game Doc Rivers called his team out essentially saying, I don’t know what to do anymore, trade everyone. That was supposed to be a wakeup call for this team, who came into Cleveland with a 20-20 record.

Watching the game last night, I didn’t see that effort and intensity that we’ve come to expect from the Boston Celtics. They were supposed to come in with an edge, pissed off, and play some tough Celtic basketball and leave Cleveland with a win. I forgot to mention, the Cavaliers came into this game with 10 wins, and one of the least efficient teams on both ends of the court in the NBA. However, they do have a pretty damn special player in Kyrie Irving, who took over the game from the get-go, scoring 19 in the first quarter and ending up with 40 points on the night. He almost singlehandedly beat this Celtics team, which is kind of understandable, he’s nasty, but you would expect a little more from the Celtics.

(Kyrie Irving as Uncle Drew, watch the video its pretty entertaining)

So we stand here almost at the halfway point of the season with a 20-21 record, 1 game below .500 but still holding onto the 8^th playoff spot in the east. Honestly, I’m worried about this team right now. Some fans in Boston will always live in La La Land and say “Oh regular season doesn’t matter, we’re the Boston Celtics, we always turn it on in the playoffs.” Well yeah, we have been pretty mediocre in the regular seasons the past couple years and turned it around come playoff timr, but nothing like this. It’s not like this team is coasting, or taking a game off every once in a while like they’ve done in the past. This team is just not playing good basketball for 4 quarters, and they have not proven to be consistent in any sense of the word.

To start off my constructive criticisms for the Celtics, I’ll go with the man who the Celtics  desperately need to put the team on his back, Rajon Rondo. Rondo has been putting up good numbers consistently this year, which is exactly what he needs to do if this team is going to have any success down the stretch. He knows this too, watching him now you can see him being more assertive and confident with driving to the rack, as well as pulling up from mid range which is something we really haven't seen from him in the past. Finally, Rondo has developed a pretty consistent jump shot to add to his repertoire to keep defenders honest. Now onto these criticisms I promised. First off, Rondo is not a good defender, he’s actually pretty damn awful and it’s hurting this team in a major way. Yea Rondo will get one of those pick-pocket steals every once in a while, but overall he is a defensive liability. It seems like every game I watch, he gets beat off the dribble and he’ll try to go for a steal to make up for it or just give up on the play. When he gets beat defensively, it forces the one of the big men to try and help stop the penetration to the basket and leaves his man open for offensive rebounds or dump off passes. If you didn’t see it last night, in the forth quarter this exact thing I’m talking about happened, Kyrie Irving  blows past Rondo easily, Sullinger steps in to help, tries to take the charge (it was a charge, bullshit call) but instead Irving gets the foul and the bucket, which proved to be a dagger for the Celtics. Rondo isn’t even close to solid defender in this league, and it hurts the Celtics.

Another thing that has to do with Rondo, but I’m not going to put the entire blame on him, is simply the lack of fluidity and scoring on offense. The offense that the Celtics run has changed, from a pick and roll offense with Rondo, Pierce and Garnett and setting offball screens for Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen). This year it seems like it's just evolving into an isolation offense where they just give it to Rondo, set a screen, let him try to do something. Sometimes, yea that can work, but Rondo is a pass first point guard, not a pure scorer like Kobe Bryant or Paul Pierce. Speaking of Paul Pierce that brings me to my next point, which is that Paul Pierce is doing more bad than good for this team.  I’m sorry, I hate to say it, I really do, but he’s just not the same Paul Pierce he used to be. He looks slow on defense, and he has hasn’t been able to get his legs under him this year. Of course he's not going to be the same player he was 6 years ago. The issue is that he wants to score and take more shots, but Rondo is getting a lot of the shots that used to be Pierce's. Last night, he was taking some bad shots, and missing some good looks. This is something so unusual for a player like Paul Pierce. While I've been watching all season I didn't fully realize it till last night, where he really struggled to produce on offense.

 Just to make sure you guys understand me, I do not think this is a bad team, or that Rondo is a bad player or that Pierce is washed up. I think this Celtics team has the potential to be pretty good going forward. I like the players they brought in this year, Sullinger, Jason Terry, Courtney Lee were solid pickups, heck even Barbosa and Collins can help. They’ve showed in spurts throughout the season that they are capable of playing some good basketball, but where they stand now, there’s a ton of issues with the C’s as shown with their 20-21 record. What I said above regarding Pierce and Rondo is just what I’ve observed through the games I’ve watched. I love them both as players, but right now something needs to change if they have any shot of first getting in the playoffs, then if they get there, trying to win an NBA title. The fate of the Celtics relies on those two along with Garnett to carry this team, while everyone needs to come together as a team...

1, 2,3 Ubuntu!

 

Thanks for reading and Go Celtics,

RB

 

 

Open Your Mind ... Redone

Hello everyone,

If you follow me on Twitter and happened to be up looking at Twitter at 12 midnight yesterday (or today, technically) you might've seen on your time line this tweet...

Just watched an amazing documentary called "Zeigeist" on Netflix... Everyone needs to check it out. Be informed. #openyourmind
&mdash">https://twitter.com/search/%23openyourmind">#openyourmind

— roger bourland (@rogerbourland15) January">https://twitter.com/rogerbourland15/status/293580097225629696">January 22, 2013

 

I just figured out how to embed tweets, oh boy this is going to be fun...

 

Anyways, last night I was pretty bored. I spent almost my entire day working on my blog, so my brain was pretty exhausted. I tried to play some NBA 2k on my Xbox but I just wasn't feeling it, so I quit that and went on Netflix. I wanted to watch a documentary, something that I could actually learn something from. Scrolling through for about 15 minutes I found this one called Zeitgeist. I read the summary of it, saw that it had to do with religions, conspiracy theories, and I was in. Started watching it, and 5 minutes in, I'm hooked. I won't give it away or even try to explain anything in it, because that won't do the movie any justice. Actually I won't even call it a movie, it's a thought-provoking, mind blowing, perspective changing documentary. I gave it a 5 star ranking, if you were wondering.

 

What does this have to do with Open Your Mind, the title of this post?

There's the italics guy again from my last post, he always asks the best questions. Well, italics guy, it has everything to do with opening your mind. There's a reason I put that hashtag in that tweet above. There's a reason I named the post "Open Your Mind...Redone". If you haven't noticed, I deleted one of the first posts I made that was called "Open Your Mind". In that post, I brought up some topics that could be classified as controversial...things like 9/11, illuminati, Sandy Hook, government conspiracies. Look. I'm 18 years old just trying to make it in this world. I want to have a nice job, family, kids, and all that jazz, when the time is right. In this day in age with the internet, and connectivity and social media, everything is so out in the open about people. I don't want to be known as a conspiracy theorist, or an anti-government figure in any way, shape or form. Also my goal for this blog is not to bring up theories and bash our government. If you're expecting that from me, read another blog. Don't get me wrong, in conversation, face to face interactions, I'll debate what I believe regarding theories, government, whatever it is. I just don't want it out there for the world to see and possibly one day have it used against me.

 

This documentary deals with a lot of topics that I mentioned above, not as much regarding illuminati but more 9/11, government, media, corruption, lies, all the juicy stuff that I love, and hate, to think about. You see, I like to think we're all here on earth for a reason. I like to think that somehow, every single one of us has a purpose in life. Everyone is different, unique, special in their own little way. So I started thinking about what my purpose is, and this isn't just last night after watching the movie, this has been an ongoing process that is no where near a conclusion. It's because I always think a lot, and my thoughts just rush around in my head. What I thought my purpose was at 7 or 8 years old is completely different than what I thought when I was 14, and it's completely different now that I'm 18 years old and on the verge of adult hood. To give you an example, I'll take you through what I thought my "purpose" was from 7 years old to 14 years old, and now at 18 years old.

 

· At 7 years old, there's really no thought of the future, what's in front of you for the most part. 7 year olds just don't think like that. I thought I was going to be a professional baseball player, like Manny Ramirez or Nomar. Just hit homeruns and get famous and stuff... those were the days.

· At 14 or 15 years old, I have no idea...I hated school, didn't get good grades for the most part, kind of acted out, but not too badly. But it was all because I just sat in school, day after day, asking myself "why the hell am I here? This stuff is stupid, I'm not going to need any of this anyways." To add onto that my dad, Andy Bourland was put in a hospice home in December, where he ultimately ended up passing away on February 16th, 2009. I would spend a lot of the time in the hospice house, talking to him about everything...girls, sports, family, friends, whatever it may be. On some occasions, we would have talks about serious things, like what he expected of me after he was gone. He never said anything like, I want you to be the best football player in the world, or I want you to get straight A's. Obviously he wanted me to get good grades and try hard in school, as well as compete in athletics, but in the end, none of that stuff really matters. He taught me he wanted me to be a man, not like old spice commercial man, but to be a man that people respect and like. Be the man of the house, take care of your family, be loyal to your friends and most importantly never, ever raise your hand to a Woman or talk down to a woman. This knowledge I learned from my dad is more important o me than any class or book can teach you. And it gave me purpose, I didn't want to let him down, because I know he would be watching.

Back to present times, January 22nd, 2013. I'm 18 years old, on the cusp of graduating high school and going to college. Then before you know it, in the blink of an eye it will be College graduation in 2017, and I'll have to go into that dark, desolate unknown territory people call the "real world". I guess I have to get a job, make money, have kids, have a family, at one point or another. In case you were wondering before you read this of I ever think about the future, now you know that I do, a whole lot. Right now, the way I see my purpose in life, what I'm destined to be, isn't something I can define. My purpose, for example is not to work for ESPN or Sports Illustrated, but that is my ultimate career goal, but it is not my purpose for life. The way I see it is that I'm good at a couple things... writing (hopefully some people agree), networking (both online and in real life with friends), and critical thinking. I know that I see things a lot different than some people do, I make connections between thoughts and events which sometimes are good interpretations, and other times it's like what the heck am I talking about? I have my opinion on certain things that I'm just not going to change my mind on easily, I'm pretty damn stubborn. So I have these 3 main skills (I have a ton more skills, believe me *cocky voice*) and while these skills individually won't really get me to have "success" so to speak, all three combined can in fact be powerful and very useful. 

I've kind of strayed away from my point about the movie, because ultimately that's not what this post is about. Rather, this post is inviting you to think. What do I mean by that? For starters, don't just believe everything that you hear that you see on the television, internet, facebook, twitter, basically any type of media. Learn to live in a reality that YOU create for yourself, live in YOUR world, have your own thoughts and feelings. We live in a world where people don't want to be in their own reality, whether unintentionally or intentionally, so we turn on the boob tube, sit and watch other peoples lives for entertainment, (reality TV, the dumbing down of the world.) Or we become so attached to our phones or TV or social media, these things that are not "real", their real purpose is ultimately to take you out of your reality and put you in someone or something else's reality. It's sad, really. I have noticed more and more that people don't know how to do simple things, like communicate, be present in the moment, think about things deeper, talk face to face, socialize with new people. All these things are just leaving our repertoire because we're so infatuated with other things, material objects, media, all this technology.

It's just a distraction, it really is. Actually no, it started out as a distraction, at one time, but it's evolved so much that it's an addiction. And I'll be the first to admit my problem to the world...

Hello, my name's Roger, and I'm addicted to technology.

Hii Roger...

 

There, now we're that much closer to solving my problem. It's not just my problem though, 85% of all americans are addicted to technology. I'm kidding, that's a complete lie I just made it up. It's probably higher than that...

 

I need to wrap this up because everyone is probably wondering how the hell all this connects to each other. Well I started off talking about the Zeitgeist movie I watched, and the post I deleted, what my purpose is in life and what my many skills are. In summation, the point of this is to get people to really think about things, to be present in the moment, in your own reality and to not believe everything you see or hear. I like to believe that I’m somewhat of a leader, and that when I have an opinion that people will want to listen to it. That is why I’m writing this blog, in the hopes that people will read and understand what I have to say and hopefully learn from it. As for my purpose in life, I’m not 100% sure what it is and I don’t think any person does. What I hope to accomplish in my time on earth is quite simple though, I want to make the world a better place, help those less fortunate than I am, and hopefully teach people some things along the way.

 

I strongly urge everyone to check out the film Zeigeist. It’s an amazing documentary that will definitely get you thinking. You can watch it on Netflix, or I’ll post the link to Youtube below. It’s about 2 hours, kind of long on paper, but I didn’t lose interest during that whole time, which sometimes happens to me during movies like I’ll space out or something, but not with this movie.

EVERYONE WATCH THESE (bottom two videos are in the movie, but I think everyone should watch those clips from the movie The Network.)

 

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

 

-RB